The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-05-04
Farm Yard Manure-Rotted and UnrOtted
Practical Farmer. !

Practical Farmer1
Among intelligent farmers who exercise
considerable care n storing their manure,
their are some singular preiudices prevail
ing regarding the value and use OF manure
Many a farmer would think be YVES wasting
both time and material were he to spread
and plough in manure that was not prop
erly 'rotted." That such an opinion
should be prevalent is not surprising. Take
pound for pound and Totted manure will
produce far more satisfactory and speedy
results than uuTotted. But this is not the
only matter to be considered. A pound of
green manure will not make pound of
manure that is well rOtted. R0tted ms
nure rs simply green manure considerably
concentrated and in high state of prepa-
ration. If this were all, it would not mat
ter much whether the manure was used in
a rotted or uurotted condition, but this is
not all. While the manure has been rot
ting, much OF its value has been dissipated
in the fermentive process, while that which
remains is in such condition as to yield
nearly all of its plant food to the first crop
that follows its application. On the other
hand, unrotted or unfermented manure,
when once plOwed under, not only yields
ali the ingredients that make up the more
highly prepared and concentrated article,
but much more beside. All the volatile
portion which is driven off in the process
of fermentation is now given to the land.
The process of rotting progresses slowly,
but with thoroughness, and not a particle
Of available plant food is allowed to escape
or course there are crops IN which
limited use of rotted manure is found in
practice to be necessary for the successful
cultivation of certain crops. Thus, says
well-known writer, the turnip, the carrot,
and the beet, which are sown in the early
part of the summer, require that the ma
nure applied shall be in such state OF de.
composition as to act upon and nourish
them in the first stages Of their growth,
and if this be not so the crop may entirely
fail. In these and similar cases according
ly a complete preparation OF the far N yard
dungs Is an essential point of practice.
Certain plants, again, do not require the
same state of decomposition of the dung.
Thus, the potato requires less in the first
stages of its growth than the turnip. and
hence it is not necessary to subject the ma
nure to be applied to the same degree of
/ fermentation.
But since guano, bone dust and other
| portable manures became available for tur-
/ nip and other crops that require immediate
mammal action, it has been a well estab.
/ lished rule that farm yard manure had
/ better be used before it has lost any of its
| fertilizing constituents, and that when
kept for any length of time las in practice
| it must be) it should be preserved as much
as possible IN the same condition as when
| it was taken from the stables, coY-stalls
and piggeries.
The common practice OF carrying dung
and litter daily from the various farm
buildings to an open pit occasions the loss
Of considerable portion of its most
valuable elements, and produces other
chemical changes than those which con-
| tribute to fertilizatiop